STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 183 



The second class, excreta, solid and liquid, is that whose prompt 

 and innoxious removal is of first importance. There is no help for it 

 but that excreta must go into the sewers, until the present fashion 

 changes and better means of removal are organized. And better 

 means might easily be organized. The power of common dry earth 

 to thoroughly defecate night soil has been placed by experiment be- 

 yond all question. The day will come when all this material, purified 

 by dry earth, will command a price, which will amply pay for more 

 than the cost of removal. The city of Lj^nn, Mass., got a clean profit 

 of $2,176.25 from the composting of night soil in 1886. (San. Era, 

 April, 1887). Minneapolis and Saint Paul waste $50,000 worth apiece 

 of good fertilizer each year. 



As to the third class, foul water, i. e. house slops, and the liquid 

 waste of manufactories; these go to the sewers— of course. In time, 

 some manufactories may be required to purify their waste before 

 emptying it into the sewers. This was frequently required in England, 



As to surface water, the sewage question would be most simplified 

 if rain water could be conducted away in separate pipes. But that 

 seems almost impracticable in a climate like ours where pipes must be 

 so deeply buried at so great cost. Until the time shall come when 

 under every principal street there shall be an ample subway in which 

 shall be accommodated all pipes for rain water, sewage, gas, con- 

 densed air, steam, and all electric wires, surface water, not escaping 

 by the gutters and open mains, must flow into the sewers. 



There remains now, the disposal of the sewage; consisting of raiu 

 water, foul water and excreta. Here there is room, not for indifl^r- 

 ence and uncertainty, but for caution and experiment The plan 

 must be adapted to the climate, and the topography of the city and its 

 environs. 



While experimenting with other plans it is perfectly feasible to 

 adopt that of simple subsidence, letting effluent water, impure of 

 course, flow into the river, and carting the sludge to a sufficient dis- 

 tance. 



It remains to be determined by experiment whether sewage farm- 

 ing and intermittent filtration through soil, can be depended on 

 where the snow lies for four months, or caa be profitably practiced 

 where the lands lie much above the outlets of the sewers. A sandy 

 or porous soil at least, is almost a necessity to these methods. 



The cities of Providence, It. I., and Worcester, Mass., after a long 

 and careful study by their engineers of European and and American 

 experiments, have resolved to introduce a chemical precipitation sys- 



